around. The music band, for 16 years, has performed in
major gigs and virtually before dignitaries all over the
country and beyond. The CEO, Akin Tofomowo, speaks
about his journey so far, the state of the music industry
among other issues.
Influences: I listened to a lot of music from Jazz, R&B,
pop and from my own background. My father used to play
and listen to Ayinla Omowura, Ayinde Bakare, Frank
Sinatra, Hubert Ogunde and the likes. Growing up, I was
enthralled by the arts of watching videos like Ogboju, Ode
Nigbo and Irunmole. That was how deep I was culturally.
Listening to deep Yoruba and Igbo lyrics was part of my
formative days.
My Work: Africa Christian Medley: I have done a song
for MKO Abiola before and a couple of works with other
people. My present work is the African Christmas Medley.
The decision to record this was borne out of the fact that
Christmas is nostalgic for me and other people. It is a part
of us whether you are a Christian or not. Africa Christmas
Medley album has something for everybody. Is it the
Dansaki track in Yoruba which eulogises Jesus Christ or the
Onye Nzoputa in Igbo that praises God?
Everybody loves Christmas music and this album is there
for those who love good music. It has eight tracks and there
is a song for everyone. During the yuletide season, we
perform almost everyday. We deliberately leave some days
so that we can have some time.
Shuga Band and Our Music: As a live band, we are
designed to play all genres of music. It's our love for music
and arts that makes us to do so. Our music is influenced by
the niche that we find in the market segmentation. We are a
company, a band that keeps finding what our clients want
and work towards satisfying them. I have a 14-piece band
and some have been with me for nine years, some six years
and we have travelled far and wide – Dubai, Paris and Sri
Lanka.
A lot of them are graduates and we all understand what it
means to be a live band. On the average, we perform over a
hundred gigs per year. Our band is as sweet as the name
implies. We started with four-piece band members. Live
music is just one of what we do. We do other things; when
we are not performing, I am recording sound somewhere.
We won the Best Band of the Year months ago by WEBS
Awards.
Foundation and Growing Up: My father was a top judge,
not just a magistrate judge and we had cooks, drivers and
house helps living with us. From Port Harcourt to Enugu to
Calabar to Lagos, these were where we lived and it was a
good experience.
My foundation, Shuga Limb Foundation, is spurred out to
provide people with mobility aids and not to eradicate
polio. I am not concerned with eradicating polio but helping
people who have suffered polio. I had polio as a child and I
grew up with that but my patents never made me feel as a
lesser child.
I was not handicapped as it were. I can't remember my
limitation as a child as we had so many house aids working
in my house. Recently my wife asked me, was there ever a
time when your limitation came to the fore? I told her
never! I can't remember. I played football and was a goal
keeper in my neighbourhood in Enugu GRA where we
lived. I was the shot stopper and the preferred number one
goal keeper. You can imagine that. My friends would come
to my house and ask of me, the shot stopper, and my
parents would wonder. I was that good and did not see any
limitation. It was later that when I have grown up now that
I became conscious of the limitation. I attended UI briefly
after which I went to LASU to study Political Science.
How we function as a Live Band: For live performance,
our clientele goes from me to you. We perform live at your
wedding, your birthday or your gig. As a live band
musician, we build our clientele from the scratch. Other
artistes use the radio or TV to showcase themselves but we
use the oldest form of communication which is performing
live at your event. We go for a gig and our client
appreciates our performance and tells another and our fan
base grows massively. We are exposed to different levels of
performances. We are trending and do what our fans would
love us to do. It's not like normal musicians who need the
radio, TV and newsprint to make them known. No one can
say, play my jazz songs from 9am to 12pm. That is what a
live performance does.We have done concerts before like,
Tyme Out with Tee A.
Even when we are not performing, we are recording
somewhere. We run an entertainment company and we also
have an 8-5 job. The band only plays when there is a
booking; we have other things we do. Shuga Entertainment
owns the band but the band is managed by One Stream
Global. They manage other acts and other bands too. One
thing about Shuga Band is that without being arrogant, we
do our work well and pamper our clients. Part of the
challenge is that we have to be spontaneous to utilise our
instinct to deliver what songs people like the day before and
we have performed at a burial ceremony. The people's
reactions determine the flow of our music.
Performing in Sri Lanka (Asian Country): It was a great
experience. We performed in the midst of mixed races; we
had people from America, Greece, Montecarlo and also
Nigerians. It was a traditional Asian wedding between a
Nigerian and Sri Lankan. They had their band; that was the
beauty of it. They also performed first and their band did so
well. We came to do our thing and trust me, they were
thrilled. They said they had never seen something like this
before. One thing about Shuga band is that, not sounding
arrogant, we more than deliver! The father of the bride was
so thrilled.
My Marriage and Family Life: I am married for almost
five years now. We did the traditional wedding years ago.
Two things you can't take away from me are my family and
my music. I like a compact family.
Music Industry, a Jungle: The music industry is a jungle
and largely unstructured. You record a piece of music and
another person claims the credit. There are four agencies
that work for the interest of artistes. For example you
record in Nigeria, one of the agencies will collect your
royalties for you in London or wherever. Who is doing that
here? We have lacked structures for a while now.
If you record a song and it's not successful, you hide from
view. I know major music labels in Nigeria and the
independent ones. What are the distribution channels?
There are only four major labels in the world. Nigeria has
no major label; we used to have. Where are the Tabansi
Records? They are no more. What a major label does is
that when a song is released, the distribution channels in
places like Enugu and others will push your music. Do you
know the amount of financial resources at their disposal?
It's huge and we don't have that here. And you know
musicians here don't respect contracts.
Also musicians make more than what bankers earn but the
money just goes out like that. That's why in my company,
we don't pay them cash, we pay into their account and help
them plan their finances. Money management is what a lot
of artistes don't have. As a musician, you manage what you
have now properly because you won't always have the
clients the way you do now.
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